Pocono Mountain parents pick at school closure plan

Residents say Barrett Elementary Center is the heart of Barrett Township, but that heart could stop beating if a school consolidation plan goes through.

MICHAEL SADOWSKI

Residents say Barrett Elementary Center is the heart of Barrett Township, but that heart could stop beating if a school consolidation plan goes through.

Pocono Mountain School District has proposed closing two elementary centers — Barrett and Pocono — and residents of Barrett Township showed up by the dozens Monday to protest any possible closing.

"Our kids are going to lose opportunities they may only have at Barrett," said Susan Price of Paradise Township, a mother of three, who added that a bigger school with more students would crowd the available opportunities like a school play. "Clearly, there are more opportunities at smaller schools."

The current proposal is to close Pocono and Barrett elementary centers, both of which house kindergarten through sixth-grade students.

Students from those two schools would be moved to the Swiftwater campus.

The district would reopen Swiftwater Intermediate School, which was closed at the end of last year. Kindergarten through third-grade students would be housed at Swiftwater Elementary Center, and fourth- through sixth-grade students would be housed at Swiftwater Intermediate.

The changes would take effect for the start of the 2013-14 school year.

About 150 people attended Monday's hearing for input on the proposal.

No decision can be made on the plan until late May. Residents can submit written comments on the plan to the district for the next 30 days.

The district has not yet released specifics on what the cost savings would be or how many employees could lose their jobs as a result of the consolidation.

The district's current budget already includes 15 teacher layoffs.

District Superintendent Elizabeth Robison said the projections — including staffing ramifications — haven't been calculated yet and she said it likely will be late April before they are available.

"It isn't until March that we even look at transportation," she said.

Opponents of the consolidation pointed to that lack of detail as a reason to back off the plan. Residents also said that any savings could be at least somewhat negated by increased transportation costs of busing students longer distances.

And while closing the schools would appear to keep the district from spending more than $8 million on necessary capital improvement projects, that money would need to be invested in the buildings to keep them viable.

One of the budgetary advantages of closing the schools, according to the district, is the possible future sale or lease of the closed buildings. The district already has three schools on the real estate market.

"That money is going to be needed to be spent on those buildings to make them buyable," said Steve Mazza of Paradise Township.

Ralph G. Megliola, chairman of the Barrett Township Board of Supervisors, said his board has been anticipating the closing of the local school, and it would harm real estate values in the township.

He also said there has been talk about turning the school into a charter school if Barrett Elementary closes.

He said he would hope the district would keep communication lines open if that does become an option. He also said the township does not want to see the building sit empty.

"The town is built around the school," he said. "It would hurt the entire town."